In a recent New York Times article, ?Debt Collectors Face a Hazard: Writer?s Cramp,? David Segal detailed how debt buyers had been using an assembly-line approach to financial paperwork well before the recent foreclosure mess and how the debt buyers often end up pursuing the wrong person.
If you happen to be this wrong person and find yourself pursued by debt collectors automatically calling for debt you don?t owe, here?s some good news.
According to the blog Credit Slips and a Minneapolis Star Tribune article it cites, a recent enforcement action from the Federal Trade Commission, and the resulting settlement, against a Minnesota debt collection agency, Allied Interstate Inc., was intended to send ?a message to the collections industry that repeatedly calling consumers who dispute a debt is not tolerated.?
The hope is that the settlement will discourage other debt collectors, especially small ones, from such practices for fear of retaliation by the government. Still, it remains to be seen whether the settlement will be enough to curtail such practices. If you have been harassed with automatic phone calls about debt you don?t owe, how did you fix the situation?
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